Immigration Minister Damian Green told the BBC that the Government is aware that non-EU passport holders spend too long queuing at Heathrow and that they are looking at short term fixes, such as hiring more staff in time for the Olympics, as well as long term solutions.

He said he met with the British Air Transport Association earlier today and they discussed how the Government can work with the airline industry to decrease queue times whilst maintaining robust borders.

John Dickie, from business lobby group London First, says the length of time non-EU passport holders have to wait to get into the country is "damaging to business" and "bad for the whole of the UK economy."

Simon Buck, the Chief Executive of the British Air Transport Association (Bata) says the government now recognise that the situation in Heathrow needs both short term and long term solutions, and that both of these require more resources.

He spoke to ITV News Senior Political Correspondent Chris Ship after he met the Home Secretary Theresa Mayand Immigration Minister Damian Green:

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On April 30th passport-check queues lasted up to three hours for passengers in Heathrow's Terminal 4 Credit: Steve Parsons/PA Wire

Passengers travelling into the UK through Heathrow last month were forced to queue at passport control for almost three hours.

Figures released by airport operator BAA showed that on April 30 there were passport queues of up to three hours at Heathrow's Terminal 4, twice as long as the figure Immigration Minister Damian Green suggested in the House of Commons.

On April 10 passengers in Terminal 5 faced queues of an hour, and on April 17 non-EU passport holders faced queues of two hours and thirty-five minutes.

Andrew Tingley, an immigration lawyer at Kingsley Napley, said it was "beyond farcical" that new rules requiring foreign nationals from outside the EU to have a biometric residents permit had left the IT system unable to cope.

He said:

The system that was introduced was not fit for purpose. It was close to collapse a few weeks ago. It has now collapsed. It's an absolute mess.

Mr Tingley also warned of the impact on the UK's economy.

You have senior global managers and directors of companies saying, 'enough is enough'. Employers are saying they can't access a reasonable immigration system and they're considering moving abroad.

They've come to the point now where they're seriously considering not investing or working in the UK because they can't access any reasonably competent system.

Security is of course paramount, but it would be a tragedy if all the work being put in to showcase Britain around the Jubilee and the Olympics was undermined by a negative first impression as the world's press arrives to cover these events.